Noted for February 24, 2013

Ben Jacobs:Why Is Oscar Pistorius The Only News Story In Africa That The Press Cares About?: "One of the great failures of the American news media is its inability to adequately cover any story that happens in Sub-Saharan Africa…. Why the sudden wave of attention for a news story in Pretoria, South Africa? The answer is simple. Because, unlike 99% of the inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa, Pistorius is white. In fact, both Pistorius and his deceased girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, are young attractive white people with blond hair…. And Mali? The only way Mali is going to get the attention it deserves is if Taylor Swift’s next underage boyfriend happens to be a Tuareg child soldier."

Cardinal Roger Mahony says that it is all an opportunity for him to undergo spiritual growth: CARRYING A SCANDAL BIBLICALLY: "]A]ll of us in the Church [have] had to face the fact that Catholic clergy sexually abused children and young people…. [O]ur suffering… [our] painful and public humiliation… is spiritually a grace-opportunity…. [T]his scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong--with the excluded ones; Jesus was painted with the same brush as the two thieves…. Jesus and Mary, walk with us and show us how to follow you!"

Erik Loomis:Brodertastic: "Ron Fournier wins the 2013 David Broder award for his column arguing: 'Sure, Republicans are nuts. But why won’t President Obama cave to their wishes to avoid the sequester? Also, we need to destroy social programs to cut deficits, a political action absolutely vital even though no one outside of the Beltway supports it'."

Matthew Yglesias:BipartisanThink and the seriousness principle: "Jonathan Chait notes that the Washington Post editorial page has seized the bull by the horns today, blaming both sides equally for the sequester standoff, even though the Post's editorial board dislikes the GOP's proposed sequester offsets—deep cuts in programs to poor people—and favors the Democrats' proposed sequester offsets—cuts in farm subsidies and the 'Buffett rule'. But where Chait sees illogic, I see the exploitation of an important principle…. '[S]eriousness' can refer both to the merits of an initiative or to its political viability. So scrapping the minimum wage in favor of a Guaranteed Basic Income isn't a serious proposal, since obviously it stands zero chance of passing Congress. Once you embrace the Principle of Seriousness, the way is clear for rigorous BipartisanThink. If the parties fail to agree because one party is being unreasonable and the other party is failing to cater to their unreasonable demands, then the apparently reasonable party is in fact failing to be serious…. Balance is restored…"

Austin Frakt, Aaron E. Carroll, Harold A. Pollack, and Uwe Reinhardt:Our Flawed but Beneficial Medicaid Program: "Do these studies really show that Medicaid causes worse health outcomes than having no insurance? This inference's validity can be questioned at two levels…. Bias introduced by omitting or censoring certain variables inevitably remains, calling into question any causal inference that Medicaid is harmful. In fact, one study used the same methods to show that Medicare is associated with worse health outcomes than having no insurance. Since Medicare is not generally subject to Medicaid's socioeconomic dynamics or provider restrictions, this result casts further doubt on any theoretically causal link between Medicaid and poor health. It's far more likely that such results are driven by selection bias…. If Medicaid actually harmed health, instrumental variables studies would show that; they don't…. If Medicaid's critics were seeking to raise its reimbursement rates and increase spending on the program, we would join their chorus. But they are using the invalid argument that Medicaid coverage is worse than no coverage at all to support proposals to cut back the program. Such an attack further damages this highly challenged program by undermining the political case for additional resources."

Ezra Klein in 2007 on Michael Cannon: Health Insurance Works, Trusting Its Detractors Doesn't: "Some of you asked me to take a look at The LA Times op-ed by Michael Cannon and Michael Tanner on why universal health care ain't all it's cracked up to be… this article is violently, even surprisingly, misleading…. Cannon and Tanner are misrepresenting [Levy and Meltzer's] study's conclusions…. In their zeal to beat back the momentum of universal health care, Cannon and Tanner are simply and blatantly misleading the LA Times' readers. I'm genuinely surprised at them."

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Noted for February 24, 2013

Ben Jacobs:Why Is Oscar Pistorius The Only News Story In Africa That The Press Cares About?: "One of the great failures of the American news media is its inability to adequately cover any story that happens in Sub-Saharan Africa…. Why the sudden wave of attention for a news story in Pretoria, South Africa? The answer is simple. Because, unlike 99% of the inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa, Pistorius is white. In fact, both Pistorius and his deceased girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, are young attractive white people with blond hair…. And Mali? The only way Mali is going to get the attention it deserves is if Taylor Swift’s next underage boyfriend happens to be a Tuareg child soldier."

Cardinal Roger Mahony says that it is all an opportunity for him to undergo spiritual growth: CARRYING A SCANDAL BIBLICALLY: "]A]ll of us in the Church [have] had to face the fact that Catholic clergy sexually abused children and young people…. [O]ur suffering… [our] painful and public humiliation… is spiritually a grace-opportunity…. [T]his scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong--with the excluded ones; Jesus was painted with the same brush as the two thieves…. Jesus and Mary, walk with us and show us how to follow you!"